Path to the Kia PBA Playoffs Through the PBA Players Championship
On your marks... Get set… Go!
The 2022 PBA Tour season, and the race for a spot in the Kia PBA Playoffs, is officially underway. Each competitor will earn points based on their finishes in national events, with the top 16 players advancing to the Kia PBA Playoffs in April. Throughout the season, I will be providing updates on the top 20 or so athletes in the playoff race. The standings will be compact early on, but will diversify as the season progresses.
This list will also serve as a proxy for a Player of the Year race tracker, as the points leader often aligns with the winner of the award; Kyle Troup accomplished this in 2021. Without further ado, the first PBA event of 2022 has concluded and a familiar face—almost too familiar—sits atop the leaderboard.
1. Jason Belmonte - 7,500
As his gold spare ball cleared the 3-pin from the deck, Belmonte dropped to a knee and delivered a Yahtzee worth of “Yes!” He pounded his chest as he backpedaled off the approach, then proclaimed two of the most iconic words in sports: “I’m back!”
The six-time Player of the Year failed to capture a title in 2021, marking his first winless campaign since 2016, but the 38-year-old ensured 2022 would not be the same. Belmonte defeated his once-fierce rival Sean Rash to claim his 26th career title and 14th major title, extending his PBA record.
His performance in the West Region stepladder was vintage Belmo: He averaged a pinch under 255 across his four clean games, missing the pocket just once and never getting less than nine. Though Belmonte didn’t quite replicate his near-flawless execution on the final show, he pounced the instant his opponents opened the door.
Belmonte wished his competitors his best “G’day mate” as he sprinted out to the early lead in 2022.
2. Sean Rash - 4,500
Rash outgunned a host of elite talent in the stacked Midwest Region to earn his berth on the main telecast. He shed any doubts following his underwhelming performance and controversial comments in the regional title match by leading the three-game seeding round, striking on his final shot to best Belmonte for the top-seed. But in the title match, Rash wasn’t able to replicate his execution from the seeding round and fell 210-201.
Rash’s suspension from a national tour stop in Feb. will cost him an opportunity to earn points, but the 2011-12 Player of the Year looks poised to again be a fixture for the award this year.
3. Arturo Quintero - 3,450
The 43-year-old Quintero took down Kyle Sherman and Dom Barrett to emerge from the Southwest Region, seeking to become the first Mexican bowler to win a PBA title. After throwing the back five in the seeding round to earn the third seed for the major telecast, Quintero defeated Fach in his first match. He put up a valiant fight against Belmonte, but a 2-8-10 split in the 7th frame doomed his title pursuit.
“During this last year, I decided to really turn into a professional bowler,” Quintero said. “I told myself, ‘If you’re going to do this, you have to do it good.’ This is the result of all my work and effort.”
It’s hard to think of stronger validation for committing to pro bowling full-time than going toe-to-toe with the greatest bowler of this generation.
4. Graham Fach - 2,850
Many tabbed Fach, the lone left-hander to make the final show, as a significant threat to climb the ladder. After starting with the front nine against Jones in his first match, Fach appeared to be a Level 1 threat. But the Canadian lost his look on the Chameleon pattern and could not recover as Quintero ran away with the match. Fach will look to parlay his fourth-place finish into the rest of the 2022 season.
5. Tommy Jones - 2,550
To say Jones obliterated his competition in the South Region, especially on the Chameleon pattern, would undersell his dominance. He led the 53-player field by over 350 pins after 14 games and settled for a 293-pin advantage. Jones ended Norm Duke’s effort to make the final show, but ran into a freight train on the show’s opening match against Fach. The 43-year-old Hall of Famer is showing no signs of slowing down.
T-6. Patrick Dombrowski, Norm Duke, Matt Russo, Dom Barrett, Jakob Butturff - 2,325
The ageless Norm Duke headlines this bunch, who all finished as the runners-up in the stepladder finals of their respective regions, but Matt Russo’s performance stands out. The reigning PBA Rookie of the Year had his match against Rash in the Midwest final all but won—until a 2-4-6-7-10 split in the tenth frame, which followed Rash’s infamous outburst, handed the match to Rash.
Barrett and Butturff were the lone top seeds who failed to advance to the final show, but their stellar performances across 28 games of qualifying speak to their talent more so than their shortcomings in a single-game match.
Dombroski has been a figure on the tour here and there since the early 2000s, but has ramped up his competitiveness in recent years. The 43-year-old followed up his slaying the 2021 Player of the Year, Kyle Troup, in his first match of the East Region finals by taking down another major champion in Bill O’Neill. He defeated the first lefty in his path, rookie Brandon Runk, but fell to the second, Fach.
Tom Daugherty broke out as a legitimate force in his 40s last year, though he had found greater success prior to his leap than Dombrowski. Time will tell if Dombroski’s opening act of the 2022 season was a flash in the pan or the start of something special.
T-11. Brandon Runk, DJ Archer, AJ Johnson, Kyle Sherman, Jake Peters - 2,235
The third place finishers feature a pair of one-time PBA champs—although it's been almost a decade since Peters’ and Archer’s titles—and three mid-late 20-year-olds chasing their first titles. Sherman and Johnson are two of the most prominent players on tour without a national singles title, while Runk, the 2021 East region Rookie of the Year, is new to the national stage.
T-16. Bill O'Neill, David Stouffer, EJ Tackett, François Lavoie, Wesley Low Jr. - 2,145
The gaudy résumés of O’Neill, Tackett and Lavoie, each multitime major titlists, proved insufficient in their matches. But their histories indicate that these most likely won’t be their last television appearances of the year. Stouffer’s differing strategy to win ostensibly without a résumé—he has fewer cashes in national events than that trio has combined major titles—also proved futile.
Low Jr. appears to be a fan of the Players Championship’s regional format: This tournament was his coming out party as a rookie last year, and he returned to the West Region finals in 2022, though he came up short against Belmonte. (But leaving a pocket 5-pin on national television has to count for something. It might not be good, but it’s something.)
T-21. Kyle Troup, Toby Sambueno, Bailey Mavrick, Brad Miller, Cortez Schenck - 2,055
Normally, this article will only include the top 20 players in the points race, but that would leave out five of the finalists from the regional finals. It would be a wasted opportunity to exclude this cast of characters reminiscent of a teen drama set in a 1980s high school. You know what? This group is exactly like the cast of a teen drama set in a 1980s high school, specifically The Breakfast Club.
Troup, the reigning Player of the Year, is John Bender, of course. Miller is the modern version of Claire Standish; she would have been Shermer High School’s queen of Instagram in the way Miller thrives on YouTube. Sambueno’s part-time status fits the stereotypical social outcast role, so he’s Allison Reynolds. Schenck’s spectacular youth bowling career compares favorably to Andrew Clark’s high school wrestling background. Finally, Mavrick’s talent and politeness mimic Brian Johnson’s, and both were somewhat unknown figures before their big-screen debuts.
If a Belmonte-Rash match for a major title is a sign of things to come, the 2022 PBA season is poised to be one for the ages. Check back next week to see how the playoff picture looks following the U.S. Open.